Weather Matters

Category: Weather studies

A cold front now in southern Georgia is forecast to impact Palm Beach by Wednesday. Hurricane Edouard is in the upper-center part of the satellite image. (Credit: NOAA)

11 AM UPDATE: Edouard became the first major Atlantic hurricane since Sandy on Oct. 25, 2012, the National Hurricane Center said. The Category 3 storm had winds of 115 mph and was forecast to remain at that strength for at least the next 12 hours. Edouard is not a threat to land, although it could brush the Azores as a post-tropical depression over the weekend.

Florida is far from being out of the woods this hurricane season, with the Sept. 10 peak still almost two weeks away. But the ragged appearance of the three storms we’ve had so far — Arthur, Bertha and Cristobal — is evidence that environmental conditions remain hostile to tropical storm formation in the Atlantic, a leading hurricane researcher says.

The Colorado State University forecast for 10 named storms total — that would mean just seven more — remains on track, Philip Klotzbach, lead forecaster for the Tropical Meteorology Project, told [More]

PM UPDATE: An Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft investigated 96L this afternoon and found tropical storm force winds to the north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, but no well-defined center of circulation. Forecasters said interaction with the higher terrain of both islands was interfering with development. Conditions for development will improve Saturday as the disturbance moves into the southeastern Bahamas, they said. Tropical storm watches or warnings may need to be issued for the Bahamas on short notice, they added.

The National Hurricane Center was monitoring a Central Atlantic tropical wave on Sunday, but forecasters said chances of development are low. (Credit: NHC)

SUNDAY PM UPDATE: An area of low pressure midway between the West Coast of Africa and the Leeward Islands was producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami gave it a 10 percent chance of developing into a tropical depression, or Tropical Storm Bertha, over the next 48 hours. It was moving west at 15-20 mph. Conditions for development are expected to become more unfavorable after Tuesday, forecasters said.

People tend to be more obese and less physically active in areas of the country that have hot, humid summers, new research at the Photo of Typhoon Neoguri from the International Space Station at 7 pm EDT on July 5. (Credit: NASA)

SUPER TYPHOON NEOGURI: The storm packing sustained winds of 155 mph is expected to strike Japan mid-week with the island of Okinawa first to feel its effects on Tuesday. U.S. Kadena Air Force Base in western Okinawa could be smacked by the strongest part of the storm, according to AccuWeather.

Heat heads to the East Coast for the holiday week. (Credit: NOAA/ CPC)

It looks like the heat will be on for the July 4 week up and down the East Coast. The National Weather Service’s (Credit: NOAA/ NWS)

LIGHTNING STRIKE UPDATE: Florida leads the nation in lightning deaths so far this year, as this graphic published by the National Weather Service indicates. There were four deaths in Florida from May 14 through June 13, and one death each in Michigan, New Mexico and Texas.

NOAA, the umbrella organization for the National Weather Service, has been involved in a lightning education program for [More]

Warmer temperatures are on tap for the second half of June. (Credit: NOAA/ CPC)

This is the time of the year when tropical waves begin cruising across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean, sometimes moving a little north of west and bringing showery weather to South Florida. The waves can be the seeds of tropical storms or even hurricanes, but most of the time they are just a way for the area to wet its whistle.

A tropical wave that is currently over the eastern Caribbean is expected to move west-northwest and may “clip” South Florida starting Wednesday and toward the end [More]

Remnants of a tropical depression in the Pacific — which may become Tropical Storm Boris — could spread into the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday. (Credit: NOAA/ NHC)

Will this year’s first candidate for Atlantic tropical development have Pacific Ocean origins? If so, it would be the second year in a row that’s happened.

The remnants of Tropical Depression Two-E in the Pacific off the southwest coast of Mexico are expected to move over Mexico and approach the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said. The energy from this system may provide the ingredients to brew [More]

Rainfall forecast for the first week of June. See below. (Credit: NOAA/ CPC)

Memorial Day is an occasion to cook outside, as long as you don’t fry at the beach.

The National Weather Service in Miami is showcasing its new beach weather forecasts, which offer predicted conditions for Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Naples and Marco Island. The good news for Palm Beach is that the risk of rip currents has finally diminished and is now in the “Low” range, although forecasters said weak rip currents are still possible.

But the UV Index is in the “Extreme” range, meaning that “unprotected skin [More]

April 2014 tied April 2010 as the warmest on record on both land and sea, the National Climatic Data Center said Tuesday. See below for details. (Credit: NOAA/ NCDC)

The average start to the South Florida rainy season has come and gone, but National Weather Service forecasters predicted that the area will have near normal, or slightly below normal, rainfall for the season that winds up in mid-October.

They blamed last week’s cold front and delivery of ultra-dry air to Palm Beach and the rest of the region for delaying the start of the wet season, which on average begins May 20.